Choose Top/Bottom Margins

[pdschneider]

What problem does this solve?

As of the latest update, the page layout remains the same after resizing (good!), however as the words now always take up the entire screen without top/bottom margins, on my Pixel 8 Pro the front camera gets in the way so every page I have to wiggle the app screen left and right in order to read the first couple of sentences.

Proposed solution

A setting in the settings page similar to line spacing or font size but for top/bottom page margins. This would allow users who want the full screen to still have that, but for users with phones like mine with a front camera taking up part of the space, allowing configurable top/bottom margins would be the best solution, in my opinion.

Alternatives considered

Either using an outdated version of the app or wiggling the screen every page. Both are not ideal.

Does this fit Quire's scope?

Yes — self-hosted, no telemetry, calibre-web-centric

[vitofico]

Thanks for the clear report, and sorry about this one: you found a regression, not a missing feature. The margins used to be there and the last update took them away.

What happened is that the previous release fixed a bug where the reader lost your place when you came back to the app or rotated the phone. The cause was Readium (the engine that lays out the page) resizing the page late, after the text had already been arranged, which shuffled everything under you. The fix told it to stop doing that. What I did not realise is that Readium bundles two things into that same step: the resize that was causing the trouble, and the top and bottom margins of the page. Switching one off switched off the other, so the text went edge to edge.

The fix does two things:

The margins are back, at exactly the values they had before, and the app applies them itself now instead of leaving it to Readium. That also means they arrive when the page is first drawn rather than a moment later, which is what was shuffling your place to begin with.

The page now measures your camera and moves out of its way. Rather than a list of phone models, it asks Android what part of the screen is covered on this device in this orientation, so it works on any punch-hole or notch. On a screen like your Pixel 8 Pro the text now starts below the camera; turn the phone sideways and the camera moves to the left edge, and the text moves with it.

So the wiggling should be over, without you having to set anything.

That does leave your actual request, an adjustable margin slider next to line spacing and font size, unbuilt. I went with restoring the margins because the underlying problem was something we broke rather than something missing, and I did not want to ship a setting whose default was still wrong. If you would still like the slider on top of this, say so and I will keep this open for it. If the restored margins are enough, this can close when the fix ships.

The change is in #98 and will be in the next release. If you would like to try it before then, the debug build from that PR's CI run has it.

[pdschneider]

Fantastic!

Your idea was much better. I'm not an Android developer so I did not think of just asking the phone for front camera measurements. No need for an extra setting when the system takes care of it for you.

Thanks so much! I'll be awaiting the next F-Droid release :)

[vitofico]

Shipped in v2026.08.24.233. Let me know how it looks on your Pixel 8 Pro, and whether the restored margins are enough or you'd still like them adjustable.

[pdschneider]

I just tried the app today and can confirm the fix works!

Thanks for the speedy update!